Runs and sun whet appetite Indoor cricket Thomas is a man on a mission Cricket

Matt Walker says Ivan Thomas is “working like a machine” to make sure that his return from knee surgery is as swift as possible, writes Mark Stokes.

Thomas was a key member of Kent’s red-ball attack last season but tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in a net session before the Specsavers County Championship game against Glamorgan at Canterbury last September.

The 27-year-old was expected miss six to nine months of cricket after undergoing reconstruction surgery, but head coach Walker says he’s never seen anyone so determined to come back sooner.

The 6ft 4in fast bowler has battled back from serious setbacks before, overcoming a triple stress fracture of his back as well as a heart problem which resulted in minor surgery to correct an irregular heartbeat discovered after a routine screening.

Walker said: “Ivan is doing brilliantly. He’s had two potentially career-ending situations with injury and illness so to have this thrown upon him was a real kick in the teeth but he’s been so positive.

“I’m sure he’s had his dark moments but with us he’s always smiling, always positive.

“He’s working his socks off in the gym and he’s looking like a machine, he’s completely focused and training so hard.

“When you have a serious injury like this it’s often how you deal with it mentally as much as anything else but from the word go he was determined to come back quicker than anyone else has from this type of injury.

“He wants to come back stronger, better and while obviously we don’t want to jump the gun I wouldn’t back against him being back sooner than we thought.”

Greenwich-born Thomas played 11 and Andrew Machin (44) against CCCU3 – but they finished on the losing side. Sam Joyce (37) carried his bat and Ollie Johnson and Jamie Harris each passed 25 as CCCU swept past Faversham’s 117 with three wickets standing and three balls left. CCCU stayed out on court to meet Canterbury 3 and, with Joyce and Harris again making runs, won by three wickets. Lowest score was Sturry’s 44 all out against UKC 2, who knocked off the runs in seven overs for the loss of two wickets. In Division 2, Canterbury 2 thrashed Sheldwich by 64 runs. Paul Steer, Jamie Mcvittie, Liam Durrant and Ben Line all retired and Megan Belt was run out for 17 as Canterbury totalled 133-1. Sheldwich contributed to their own downfall with three run outs and, after Jamie Harris was caught for 23, made 69-5.

Results Division 2

Canterbury 2 133-1 (L. Durrant 28ret, B. Line 26ret, P. Steer 25ret, J. Mcvittie 25ret, M.belt 17); Sheldwich 69-5 (J. Harris 23)). Canterbury won by 64 runs. Margate 101 (T. Paris 34, J. Williamson 28, B. Woollard 23; J. Coleman 3-27); Littlebourne 102-4 (I. Attenborough 37not, S. Martin 25). Littlebourne won by two wickets.

Division 3

UKC 2 111-3 (B. Austin 39not, H. Wright 27not, A. Shastri 26ret); Worth 112-4 (T. Rangeswaran 32, Qamar 26not, R. Spence 27not). Worth won by two wickets. Sturry 2 44 (T. Clifton 18; D. Nicholls 2-9); UKC 2 47-2 (H. Wright 22not). UKC won by four wickets. Faversham 117 (W. Dear 62, A. Machin 44); CCCU 3 119-2 (S. Joyce 37not, J. Harris 25, O. Johnson 27not); CCCU won by three wickets. Canterbury 3 72-5; CCCU 3 73-2. CCCU won by four wickets. n A cup final at Lord’s is the prize for the winners of the regional finals being played at Kent Academy on Sunday.

Canterbury, who won in 2011, meet Wimbledon (Surrey) in the first semi-final at 1pm.

Then, at 2.15pm, Ifield (Suffolk) play the Hampshire champions.

The final is scheduled for 4pm.